


A Ghostly Bet

by anxiousdryad



Series: The Tall Thing [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Alex and Reggie try to play matchmaker, F/M, Fluff, Pining, Tiny Bit of Angst at the End, and it sorta works?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:40:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29663280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxiousdryad/pseuds/anxiousdryad
Summary: “Okay, do you want to make a bet?”“I’m scared, do I really wanna?”Reggie throws an arm around her shoulder. “Oh, I think you want to make this bet.”“I bet we can prove Luke is into you. All you have to do is do exactly what we say,” Alex meets her eyes and folds his arms.Sequel to "Not the Tall Thing Again", but can be read as a stand-alone.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: The Tall Thing [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2180712
Comments: 26
Kudos: 132





	1. Girls Night

“Why do guys never get to do shit like that?” 

Reggie and Julie were in the middle of a movie marathon, part of the boys' pop culture catch-up. He’d picked out _Teen Beach Movie_ this time. Julie was sure it was for the 60s Elvis vibes and the leather jackets. The other two boys had decided to skip out, neither were into Disney Channel Movies like Julie (the nostalgia) and Reggie (he just really liked the music) were. 

“What do you mean?” Julie glances down at Reggie.

Reggie nods his head to the scene on her laptop. The characters were getting ready for something ( _she’d honestly lost track of the movie_ ) and it was a girls vs guys scene, the girls painting nails and doing hair in PJs while they sang some preppy song. “I mean, I’d love to have a sleepover like this. The best thing I ever had was the time Luke, Alex, and I had a food eating contest in the studio. Alex ended up puking on Luke’s favorite vans after that.”

“Wait, a food eating contest?” she asks. Reggie turns and throws a grin over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, pre-hotdog incident. Alex won by like two nuggets. It was even better when Alex ended up throwing them all up, he couldn’t look at chicken nuggets the same way for a few weeks. Luke didn’t talk to Alex for two days and spent two hours trying to clean his shoes before throwing them out.”

Julie giggles. She could totally imagine Luke pouting over losing a nugget eating contest. “Aside from a nugget eating contest, how is that not as good as a girl’s night? It seems a lot more fun than talking about boys.”

“I mean it definitely had its perks, this just looks so much more...fun,” Reggie gestures to the screen. 

Julie sits up and clambers across her bed to press pause and close her laptop. She thinks for a moment, then asks: “Reggie, do you want to have a girls’ night?” 

Reggie scrambles to sit up, a grin taking over his whole face. “Hell yes!”

___________________

Alex poofs in a half-hour later to find Reggie and Julie sitting cross-legged on her bed. 

“Um…” Alex takes in the bright pink headband and neon green facemask on his bandmates face. “What’s up?” 

Julie looks up from painting her toes and grins. “Alex! Join girls’ night!”

“Girls’ night?” Alex asks. 

Julie screws the cap back on the polish, and drops it on her bed. “Reggie wanted a girls’ night, so here we are.” 

Reggie is wearing a large t-shirt with the words “MOLINA FAMILY BBQ” in bright purple letters across the chest. Julie catches Alex’s eyes on the shirt and shrugs. “Reggie got the face mask all over his shirt.”

“Look Alex, she gave me this headband and a face mask and it tingles but Julie says it peels off which is super fun, look look look!” Reggie reaches up and peels off a patch of green from his nose. 

“Ah, okay, does that even do anything for you?” Alex grimaces as Reggie finishes peeling, revealing patchy red skin underneath. 

“No idea, but it’s fun!”Reggie shrugs.

“Do you want to join?” Julie offers. Alex shuffles his feet and shoves his hands deep into his jacket pockets. 

“I don’t know…”

“Come on, we’re doing the basics of girls’ night; movies, music, face masks, nail polish, hair, and boy talk!” Reggie bounces up from his spot on Julie’s bed. 

Alex hesitates. _Sure, it would definitely be weird, but what the hell, band bonding right?_ “Fine, just don’t give me the same face mask as Reggie.”

Reggie whoops and jumps back on Julie’s bed. She yelps as the whole bed moves and bottles fly. “Oops, sorry Julie.”

“I miss when you couldn’t move shit,” Julie scrambles to pick up the nail polish,, but there's a small smile that betrays her grumping. 

She grabs a second headband from a basket Alex didn’t notice on the floor. She reaches up on her tiptoes and shoves it over his head and down. Alex falters, and Julie pulls up, pushing all his hair away from his face. He sways from the motion, a little stunned.

“I feel like a troll doll,” he deadpans.

Reggie snorts. “You look kinda like one.”

“I’m thinking a relaxing face mask will do you good,” she taps her lips and strolls out of the room. She returns with a lavender-colored packet and a weird spatula-like tool. “Sit.”

“I think I can put on a face mask myself Ju–” Alex starts, but she shoves hard on his shoulder and he drops to the bed. “Okay then.”

“Just sit still for a second, will you?” she asks.

Reggie snorts on the other side of the bed. “Good luck telling that to Luke.”

“I dunno, you did a pretty good job doing the other day telling him about Julie’s crush,” Alex retorts. Julie freezes in front of him and turns pink. 

Reggie sucks in a sharp breath. “Oooh, you opened the can of worms dude.” 

Alex turns to tell Reggie that **_he_** was the one that opened the can of worms, but Julie grabs his jaw, turns it back to her forcefully, and smears a cold pale mixture on his face before he knows what's happening. Alex splutters, and she smirks. 

“Oops, sorry.” He gives her a weak glare. Julie reaches up with the weird spatula thing and spreads the mixture across his face. It only takes a few more moments, before Julie leans back. “Done.”

Alex glances in the mirror, and the face mask is spread evenly across his face, leaving large spaces around his eyes. “So do we get cucumbers or something now?” Alex asks. Reggie laughs. 

“Nope, you leave it on as long as the lady tells you and then take it off.”

Julie had disappears into the bathroom, and returns with a violet mask spread across her face. She plops herself back on the bed, and rifles through the bag. 

“Nails?” She offers, holding up a few bottles. Reggie grabs the maroon polish from her hands. Julie holds out the bag, and Alex gently picks through the bottles and picks out a light pink that matches his t-shirt. 

“So, Alex, what’s this I hear about a chicken nugget eating contest?” Julie asks innocently. Alex pales. 

“Reggie, we swore never to talk about that ever again!”

“What, it's my favorite sleepover memory, Julie asked!” Reggie protests. 

“I’m just kidding, I don’t want the gory details,” Julie shudders. Alex opens the little bottle of polish and begins to carefully paint his nails on his left hand. 

It is silent for a moment, and then a weird peeling noise. Alex winces and glances at Reggie. He has started to peel the face mask off his face, and even he was making a face at the noises the mask was making. 

“Reggie, you might want to wash that off soon.”

“Nah, this is fun,” Reggie scratches as another spot on his face, and his nose scrunches in pain as he peels another swath of facemask off. Julie opens her laptop, and a pop beat fills the room. 

“Okay then, I’m going to go wash this off.” Julie waves to her face, and disappears into the bathroom.

“What crap is this?” Alex wrinkles his nose at the music. _This was too pop-ey for his taste_. 

“Alex, it’s One Direction, it’s who every teenage girl was obsessed with in 2014,” Julie calls from the bathroom.

Reggie is bopping to the beat. “I dunno, it’s not horrible”

“You like country music, you don’t count,” Alex inspects his nails. Reggie flips him off. 

A few seconds later, he leans over and pouts at Alex, “How are you so good at this?” 

“I had a little sister, remember?” Alex puts his polish down and takes the black polish from Reggie.

“Oh yeah.” Reggie lets Alex take a hand, and Alex begins carefully painting Reggie’s left hand. 

Alex loses himself in painting Reggie’s nails for a few minutes, trying to get the brush strokes to lay perfect. Reggie begins to wiggle, and Alex huffs. 

“Could you sit still?” Alex mutters. 

“I’m sorry man, this music is too good not to bop too,” Reggie shrugs, and his hand jerks in Alex’s. Alex levels a glare at Reggie, who just gives him a sheepish grin. 

“You’re worse than Luke.” Alex returns to his task. 

The bed bounces slightly, and Alex looks up to see Julie settling back on the bed with her laptop. She pulls up a site, and types quickly before a video is playing. 

“Is that the WeTube thing?” Reggie asks, leaning around Alex. 

“It’s YouTube,” Julie corrects with a grin. The video begins playing, the same voices from before echoing in the room. 

“Ugh, I can’t believe you’re listening to pop music,” Alex scoffs.

“This one isn’t super poppy, they got more of a rock vibe in later years,” Julie says as she cues up a different song. “I hate _What Makes You Beautiful_ , it was so overplayed when it came out.” 

“Damn, they’re kinda cute.” Alex’s eyebrows shoot up at the five highly attractive guys on the screen. 

Julie grins at Alex. “You and 1 million other teenage girls agree. They were a boy band first, then broke off and went and did their own single things. Harry is the most successful,” She points out a curly-haired boy. “And technically so is Zayn.” She points to the dark-haired boy with cheekbones like glass. “He left first, and then the whole band fell apart. Everyone else is doing their own solo career thing now.” 

“I don’t get the solo thing, playing music together is more fun. ” Alex frowns and takes back Reggie’s hand to continue painting. 

“Like Luke and Julie always songwriting together?” Reggie waggles his eyebrows at Julie. She grabs a pillow and slams it into his face. 

“Hey, no pillow fighting while the nail polish is out!” Alex snaps. Julie pauses, and Alex examines Reggie’s nails, before capping the polish and getting out of the way. “Okay, continue.” Julie gives him a thankful smile and then resumes hitting Reggie with the pillow.

“Ow– hey listen you can’t–ow– deny- ow– the oozing– chemistry!” 

“Dude, what did I say about ooze?” Alex picks at his face. The mask crumbles into light lilac flakes. 

Reggie finally gets a pillow of his own and gets a few good hits in. “I thought we were supposed to talk about boys! Isn’t that part of the girls’ night thing?” 

“Aaaand we’re moving on!” Julie says. 

“I’m just sayin, that boy is whipped for you. Or what's the new word?” Alex taps his chin. 

“Oh, simp?” 

Alex snaps at Reggie. “That's the one.” 

Julie groans and buries her face in her pillows. “Please never use the word simp ever again.”

“Why, we just wanna be woke and vibe with the times, ya know?” 

“Guys, he is not a simp or whipped.” Julie reemerges from her pillow pile. “He’s just Luke.”

Reggie and Alex exchange glances and turn to her with matching grins.

“Okay, do you want to make a bet?” 

“I’m scared, do I really wanna?”

Reggie throws an arm around her shoulder. “Oh, I think you want to make this bet.”

“I bet we can prove Luke is into you. All you have to do is do exactly what we say,” Alex meets her eyes and folds his arms. 

“Everything?”

Both boys nod. It would be more serious if Alex’s face wasn’t covered in a lilac face mask and Reggie didn’t have chunks of green mask on his. 

“Why should I care?” she asks. 

“We won’t bother you about it again,” Alex says.

“And what happens if you prove it?”

“You go on a date with Luke,” Reggie grins.

“And if I don’t accept?” she asks. 

The boys shrug in unison, which is slightly terrifying. “We bring it up to Luke,” Alex smirks.

“Bring what up to me?” All three whip around to the doorway. Luke is leaning on the doorframe, brows touching as he looks at each one of them. Julie goes pale for a moment, and Reggie and Alex begin to stammer.

“Uhhhhhhh that thing, that we decided, right Julie?” Reggie gives her a pointed look. 

“Julie likes boy bands,” Alex blurts out, pointing at Julie, who exclaims loudly. Luke’s questioning look transforms into puppy dog betrayal.

“Noooo! Julie they got to you too,” Luke flops face-first on the bed. Alex meets her eyes over Luke, and she sighs, hard, and nods. It feels like she’s sealed her fate with some demon, but her demons are doing a silent victory dance with brightly painted nails and face masks. 

She pats his arm “Wanna join girls’ night?”

“Dunno? What d’ya do for girls’ night?” His voice is muffled by the pillows. 

“Movies, music, painting nails, hair,” Julie lists. 

Luke lifts his face and gives her a blinding grin. “As long as you don’t play any pop music.”

“Done,” she agrees. She glances at the other boys, and they’re already smirking at her. “Alex, you should probably wipe that off your face now.”

Luke insists she paint his nails while she starts _High School Musical_ on her computer, and Alex pulls Reggie into the bathroom to get the last few bits of both of their masks off. 

“So why do we need to watch this movie?” Luke is staring at the screen, eyebrows pressed together as Troy and Gabriella sing to each other at karaoke night. He’s spread out flat across the bed, chin propped up with one hand. Julie has the other on her knee, hunched over as she paints his ring finger. Luke picked out a yellow polish she’d forgot she had. 

“Because DCOMs slapped in the 2000s. Stop moving your fingers, it tickles.” She slaps his wrist with her free hand. 

“It doesn’t seem that great,” Luke shrugs, and his hand shifts again. Julie grunts in annoyance as his fingers move again and she almost gets nail polish on her pants. 

“Luke, if you move this hand again, no Nirvana smiley on your ring finger,” she threatens. His hand goes deathly still. “Thank you.”

“Well, the lavender slime is off my face, but holy fuck it took forever!” Alex complains as he sits. “But, my face feels soft so your face masks are ghost approved.”

Reggie comes back a moment later. The places where the face mask had been was still blotchy red, and he curls up in her mountain of pillows by the head of her bed with Alex. It was quiet for a few minutes, the only noise being the movie continuing on in the background. Julie had finished the first coat on Luke’s hand and was blowing on his hand, trying to get it to dry faster. 

Every time her breath hit his hand, he would shiver. Julie shot a glance back at Reggie and Alex, and they had matching grins, watching Julie and Luke instead of the movie. She blushes and stops, dropping Luke’s hand to the bed. He frowns and glances back at her. 

“Why’d you stop?” He pouts. 

“Uh, ‘cause it’s dry enough.” She grabs the yellow again and picks up his other hand. Luke settles back into watching the movie. Julie glances back at the two boys, and Alex mimes a whip, winking at her. She rolls her eyes.

“Sharpay reminds me of Carrie,” Reggie mutters. “Too much pink.”

“Why is Sharpay such a jerk?” Luke hums as the character flips her hair and stomps away.

“Probably because two randos stole her audition,” Alex deadpans. 

“Or she’s just a jerk?” Reggie suggests.

Alex sits up fast. Julie startles and rips the nail brush away before she can smear the Xs. 

“I can’t with you on this movie! Clearly, Sharpay and Ryan are not the enemies here! Troy and Gabriella, despite how well they sing and how hot Troy Bolton is, just stole the whole musical!” Alex leaps to his feet and starts pacing while Reggie watches with wide eyes. “With some whimsical singing and a big gym number at the end. ‘We’re all in this together,’” Alex scoffs. “How would you all feel if some random band came into a battle of the bands, and decided to do a pop number and immediately won?! We’d all be conspiring to prank them immediately!” Alex exclaims, his chest heaving as he continued to pace. Julie narrows her eyes at him. 

“Alex, have you watched this movie already?”

Alex freezes. “....no…”

Luke squints at the screen. “I don’t see the hotness with the basketball player.” 

Julie’s jaw drops open. “How?!” 

Reggie tilts his head at the screen. “I mean I can see the potential there, but I agree.” 

“Oh my god,” Julie groans. “I’m never watching Kenny Ortega movies with you again.” Alex wanders back to the bed and flops back on the bed. Alex’s head ends up next to Reggie, and Julie sees his fingers disappear into Alex’s blond hair. 

“Isn’t that the guy who choreographed Dirty Dancing?” Alex asks. 

“Yeah, he directed all three _High School Musical_ movies, plus a new series, _Descendants_ .” Julie turns back to the movie in time to see _Getcha Head in the Game_ start. Luke wrinkles his nose. 

“I hope he didn’t write the songs, this one is awful.”

Julie grabs a pillow and hits him over the head. 

“Hey!”

“Take it back Patterson.”

“No!” 

Julie raises the pillow higher, and Luke yelps and scrambles out of the way. Alex grunts as Luke gets caught in his legs, and both boys go tumbling to the floor. “Luke watch–ow that was my ribs!” 

Reggie doesn’t even look up from the movie, transfixed by the musical number on the screen. “Do people even think it’s weird that these basketball players all of a sudden break into song?”

“I honestly have no idea.”

Alex jumps back on the bed and blows loose hair out of his face. “I think I’d die of secondhand embarrassment if someone started a musical number in front of me.”

“Is that a request?” Luke waggles his eyebrows. Alex grabs a pillow and hits him in the face. Luke grabs the closest pillow to retaliate. 

“Can we just watch the movie?” Julie huffs in irritation. Luke immediately drops the pillow, a guilty look on his face.

“Sorry boss.” 

Alex gives her a wink over Luke’s shoulder and she wants to hit him. “Just watch the movie please,” Julie sighs and rolls onto her stomach. Alex and Luke resettle themselves on the bed, and it's a tight squeeze but it feels safe and warm and perfect.

During Troy and Gabriella’s final duet ( _which really reminds her of_ _Perfect Harmony_ _and she wants to scream into a pillow_ ), Luke starts twisting braids into her hair. She’s really curious how he knows how to do that, but she’s lost in the feeling of someone playing with her hair. Julie turns her head to catch his eyes. They’re glued to the screen, but his gaze flickers down to her when he feels her move. 

“What?”

“Since when can you braid?”

He winks at her. “I have my secrets.”

“His parents made him go to boys scout camp.” 

“Alex!” 

Alex smirks from his place in the pillows. “Threaten me again with a musical number Second Class Patterson, I dare you.” 

“Aww, that's so cute,” Julie coos, and Luke goes bright red. 

“That’s it, no more braids for you Molina,” Luke grumps as he pulls his hands from her hair. 

Julie whines, and Luke freezes. She watches about 14 different emotions cycle on his face. Julie glances at the boys and puts her best puppy dog eyes on. 

“Please?” 

Luke sighs, and his fingers return to the abandoned braid. She hums happily and goes back to watching the movie. 

Alex and Reggie quietly high five behind them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta, lbswasp for everything, and my mother who helped edit my monstrosity down to a manageable monstroscity.


	2. An Old Band Tee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She takes it carefully and holds it out in front of her. It’s a plain white shirt with a band logo she doesn’t recognize. Julie is surprised to see the sleeves still attached. “Alex, why are you giving me a shirt that –” she pauses, smells it, and wrinkles her nose, “–smells like sweat, horrible cologne, and Irish Spring Soap?”
> 
> “That, my lifer friend, is the shirt Luke wore when Sunset Curve played our first official gig ever.” Alex pokes at the shirt. “Also, I’m a little offended, that was my cologne he wore.” 

The Plan starts the next day. Julie comes home to find the plan in full action - Reggie distracting Luke with the premise of trying to play Mario Kart while Carlos was at baseball practice. 

Alex drags her down to the studio the moment Luke leaves the room.

“Alex, this is dumb,” she complains. 

“Yeah, but you agreed to our dumb plan!” Alex gleefully points out, climbing into the loft. 

“Couldn’t you just poof up there?”

Alex leans over the railing and shrugs. “Eh, this is more fun.” 

He disappears from view, and she can hear rustling as he goes through their stuff. A trash bag rustles; must be one of Luke’s. “Ah-ha!” he pops up and poofs in front of her. Julie raises her eyebrows, and Alex shoves a shirt at her. 

She takes it carefully and holds it out in front of her. It’s a plain white shirt with a band logo she doesn’t recognize. Julie is surprised to see the sleeves still attached. “Alex, why are you giving me a shirt that –” she pauses, smells it, and wrinkles her nose, “–smells like sweat, horrible cologne, and Irish Spring Soap?”

“ _ That,  _ my lifer friend, is the shirt Luke wore when Sunset Curve played our first official gig  **_ever_ ** .” Alex pokes at the shirt. “Also, I’m a little offended, that was my cologne he wore.” 

Julie gives him an incredulous look and moves the shirt a bit farther away from her body. 

“Listen, I was young and some gave it to me for Christmas, okay?” he says, holding his hands up in surrender. “Either way, he never wore that shirt again, swore he’d sell it when we made it big. If he knew we touched it, he’d lose it, soo,” Alex trails off. 

Julie understood why it was in the studio instead of at the Pattersons’ house. “Are you sure we won’t break him if I wear it?”

Alex stuffs his hands in his pockets. “I don’t think we’ll make any money off Sunset Curve now.”

She held it out again. It was just a plain shirt, easy to pair with a statement set of earrings and her favorite pair of jeans. She pauses. It would look even better with a flannel. 

“Alex, does Luke have any other flannels?” 

Alex’s replying grin was downright maniacal. 

___________________

Julie stares at herself in the mirror. She was right, the outfit looked hella good and her jeans matched perfectly. Luke was only 3-4 inches taller than her (even possibly a little shorter and a little less muscled when he started Sunset Curve), but the shirt was massive on her. 

Alex had found a blue and green checkered flannel, which just smelled faintly of Irish Spring Soap, instead of sweat and bad cologne. It masked the underlying scent of sweat from the t-shirt, which she was thankful for. She had to roll the sleeves just to be able to do anything with her hands, but it was the comfiest thing she’d ever worn. It looked artfully vintage, but only her boys knew the significance of it. 

It was a Saturday, so there was no rush to go anywhere, and Julie wandered down to the kitchen. A sticky note on the fridge lets her know that her dad was out at a photoshoot, and he’d dropped Carlos off at baseball for the morning.  _ Perfect _ . 

She hums to herself as she starts making breakfast. After almost getting the sleeves covered in flour, Julie swaps the flannel for the dahlia apron her Tia got for her mom a few years back. Julie wasn’t too keen to get flour and pancake batter all over Luke’s flannel, even if she was only borrowing it for the day. Julie paused only to pull her phone out, connect to her speakers and start up a playlist. The opening piano to  _ Stronger _ rang out, and she let the music move her through the kitchen. 

_ I don't do this for the riches _

_ I'm infected, my condition is I'm always in my head _

Julie mimes the drumbeat with her spatula, hitting imaginary drums in the air. 

_ These words are my religion _

_ I'm obsessed, it's by decision _

_ I'ma do this till I'm dead _

She mimes the beat again and flips a pancake. It sizzles on the pan, and she turns her focus back on the pancakes, humming the next few lines, before hitting the pre-chorus. 

_ Higher, faster, everlasting _

_ Bet you didn't think that I'd come back to life _

_ Higher, faster, never-crashing _

_ Bet you didn't think that I'd come back to life _

Julie pauses, and snorts. The boys would be all over this song. It might make a good cover song to play at their next gig, if not for the irony of the lyrics themselves. 

She finished the last pancake to  _ Legend _ , bopping her head to the beat. Julie carefully stacks the pancakes, and turns around and–

“Gah!” She shrieks and drops the plate. Reggie yelps, and dives, catching the plate before it hit the ground. 

“What did I say about not doing that?!” Julie cries out and glares at Alex and Luke. Both look at each other and shrug.

“You were jammin’; we didn’t want to interrupt the flow.”

“Plus that drum solo was killer,” Alex winks at Julie. She rolls her eyes and reaches over to turn her music down.

“And, pancakes,” Reggie nods to the plate in his hands. Julie takes it from him and puts it on the island. 

“I know you guys aren’t always able to eat, but I thought you could try?” The boys all exchange glances, and shrug before each taking a pancake and holding them like tacos.

“Well, bottoms up boys,” Luke reaches out, and all three knock their pancakes together, before taking a bite. Julie’s shoulders were by her ears, and to her amazement and relief, all three groan in appreciation as they chew.

“Oh my God! Julie please marry me, these are divine,” Reggie says through a mouthful of pancake. Alex smacks him, but it’s half hearted. 

“Anyways. I was thinking we could do some covers for our next gig,” Julie says as she turns back from the dishes. Alex and Luke have moved on from their telepathic conversion. Luke was rummaging in the cabinet and she watches in horror as he pulls out – “Hot sauce and peanut butter, Patterson?”

Luke shrugs. “The peanut butter is for Alex. I like hot sauce.” 

“What happened to just plain old syrup?” Reggie asks around a mouthful of pancakes. Luke rolls his eyes as he sits on the counter, piling a few pancakes on his plate. Julie watches in disgust as he slathers hot sauce on his pancakes. 

“I like spicy food, but that's too much,” she gags and turns back to the dishes. 

“Ooh, I like this band you were air drumming to, can we do one of theirs?” Alex waves a knife covered in peanut butter at her. The music is still playing, and he follows the beat with the knife like his drumsticks. 

“ _The Score_? Sure. I really need to compile a bunch of new songs for you guys, you’ve missed a lot.” Julie put the last of her dishes in the sink and turned around to pull the apron off. She hung it up in the cabinet, and pulls the flannel on, before grabbing a plate for her own pancakes. “I might be able to find some old phones or something that I can load with some music.”

There was a loud clatter behind her, and she spun around to see Luke’s eyes pop out of his head, jaw practically on the island counter. Her eyebrows furrow, and she opens her mouth to ask him, but the massive grins on Alex and Reggie’s faces make her glance down first. 

_ Oh _ . 

The apron had been covering the shirt logo, so it’d looked like she’d just been wearing a plain white tee. Now it was painfully obvious this wasn’t a plain white shirt and it definitely wasn’t her flannel.

“Where–” Luke’s voice cracks, and he clears his throat. “Where did you find those?” 

Reggie was miming animatedly behind him, trying to convey a message, and Alex already looked hopeless. 

“I found it in the garage, thought it was some stuff of my moms I missed,” Julie says carefully. Alex fist-pumps behind Luke and Reggie shoots her a thumbs up. “Why, is it not hers?” 

Luke’s mouth gapes open and shut for a few moments, and he looks like a fish. He closes his mouth, and his eyebrows are nearly touching. 

“No, no it’s –uh– it’s mine,” he clears his throat again. 

“Oh, I can take it off if you want.” Julie tries to give him a look, she’s offering him a clear out without explanation. She starts to reach for the flannel to hand it back. 

“No no no, it's fine!” Luke waves his hands, backpedaling. “It’s just a shirt, it’s no big deal.” His face goes red for a moment, and Alex looks like he won the lottery. 

“Alright then, who needs the syrup?” Julie waves the bottle, and Reggie’s hand shoots up. 

___________________

Julie wears the shirt for the rest of the morning. She took the flannel off for band practice, and retied the knot tighter and higher up. It ended up eliciting a choked noise from Luke when he noticed, and snickers from Alex and Reggie. Luke could not focus, and every time she would look his way during practice, he messed up a chord or a lyric. 

“Are you sure this is okay?” Julie leans over to Alex. Her drummer shrugs, spinning a drumstick. 

“I think its going fine,” He says. Julie glances over to Luke. He’s staring at her, and light blush covers his cheeks at being caught, and jumps back to playing his guitar. 

Julie is relieved when her phone buzzes in her back pocket, rehersal was getting a  _ little _ awkward. “Thats Flynn, I’ll see you guys later.” She jumps to her feet, and rushes for the garage doors. 

“See ya Julie!” Reggie calls. Alex waves, and Luke just nods at her. 

“The 90s called, they want your outfit back,” Flynn says as Julie slides in the front seat of Flynn’s car. 

“No they don’t, they already said so,” Julie mutters, buckling her seat belt. She glances back to the studio, where Reggie is standing outside the studio, waving like a fool. An arm phases through the garage doors and yanks him back inside. 

Flynn shifts the car into drive, and they drive down the street for 30 seconds of silence before she cracks. “So you seriously stole one of Luke’s flannels?”

“Flynn!” Julie exclaims. “How do you know it’s not Reggie’s?”

She shrugs. “No offense Jules, it’s not Reggie’s color, plus that thing looks like it smells like mothballs.”

Julie sinks lower into the seat. The collar crumples inward as she slouches, and it comes to rest around her nose. “It smells like Irish Spring Soap actually,” she mutters.

“You’re so far gone,” Flynn grins. 

“So, DJing, how’s that coming?” Julie changes the subject. 

Flynn immediately dives into talking about her latest gig. Julie was always incredibly thankful Flynn was  _ Julie and the Phantoms’ _ s manager, but she cared about her friend’s career too. Flynn had landed a few gigs, mostly school dances, but was working on more.

“Jules, you have no idea how good my mashups have been doing on TikTok, it’s insane!” Flynn reaches for her phone, and Julie grabs it before she can attempt to text and drive. “Go to my Soundcloud, I think my newest one is saved under the drafts.”

They spend the rest of the drive jamming out to Flynn’s remixes. Flynn rambles on about how certain remixes have more streams then others, and once they run out of her drafts, they swap to the radio, and talk setlists. Before Julie knows it, they’ve arrived at their favorite ice cream store. 

“So,” Flynn points her pink plastic spoon at Julie. “Spill Molina, why are you wearing 25 year old clothes?”

Julie sighs, and stabs her spoon into her funfetti birthday cake ice cream. “I agreed to a bet.”

“With who, the Scooby Doo Gang?” Flynn raises her brows. 

“With Alex and Reggie,” Julie admits, giving Flynn a look. 

“Oh because that’s so much better,” Flynn says as she rolls her eyes. “Is making a bet with a ghost like a deal with the devil? Is there some kind of legal binding somewhere in it?” 

Julie snorts. “God I hope not. If so, then I’m really going to hell.” 

“So what does this ghostly bet consist of?”

“The boys are trying to prove Luke is into me,” Julie sighs. 

“What’s there to prove?” Flynn raises her eyebrow. “That boy was gone for you the moment you sang to him at Beats-N-Eats.” 

“Flynn!"

“What?” she exclaims. “I don’t know why the Himbo gang needed to bet with you to prove it. What do you owe them if they win, which they will.” 

“A date with Luke.” Julie let her head thud on the table. 

“Wow they’re very original. Remind me to smack them, that’s a horrible bet, they need better conditions next time.”

“Flynn, you can’t even see them.” 

She shrugs and shoves another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. “So what, you’re wearing his clothes? How does that prove he’s gone for you?” 

Julie tugs at the flannel nervously. “It’s the shirt he wore to their first ever gig.” 

Flynn’s eyes almost pop out of her head. “What did he do?” 

“Almost choked on pancakes, then messed up all rehearsal.” Julie fiddles with a button. “I feel a little bad, ‘cuz it’s sentimental. Alex said Luke wanted to sell it when they made it big.” 

Flynn whistles. “I’d have paid to see his reaction.” She leans on her elbows. “What do you think?” 

“I just feel bad!” Julie launches to her feet and paces. Another patron gives her an odd look, but she ignores them. “Like it meant something big to Luke and I just took it to try and get a rise out of him.” 

“If you’re that worried, just check in with him when you get home.” Flynn watches her pace. “If Alex didn’t think he’d mind, I don’t think Luke would. Alex sounds like he’s too nervous to make you do something bad anyways.” 

Julie flops back into the booth. “You’re right, I’ll just check in when we get home.” She wrinkles her nose, thinking back to that morning. “Did you know he puts hot sauce on his pancakes?” 

“Oh that’s just disgusting.” 

___________________

Flynn drops her off a few hours later, shouting “talk to him!” out the window as she drives away. 

Julie jogs up to her room, and quickly changes into a plain t-shirt, her t-shirt. She gently folds Luke’s, and wraps the flannel around it. 

The garage is empty when she walks in. 

“Luke?” she calls, peering up at the loft. It’s silent, something that hasn’t happened since they fell into her life. Julie climbs into the loft. The boys had made it their own space, and Julie hates to come up here uninvited.

They’d found an old king sized mattress for the boys after the Orpheum. She and Flynn had found it on the side of the road–

_ “Julie, someone discarded it for a reason!” Alex’s hands fluttered nervously. Julie dropped her end of the mattress, and Flynn let out a loud “ _ oof _ ” as the mattress dropped. Julie put her hands on her hips and fixed Alex with the most authoritative look she could summon, channeling her inner Beyonce.  _

_ “Look, do you want a bed or not? If not, I’m going to leave it here and you can sleep on the floor of the loft.” _

_ “Are there bed bugs? What about weird stains? What if someone had super kinky sex on it, died and their ghost will haunt us?” Alex blurted. He paced in a circle in the middle of the street, spinning his drum sticks as he paced.  _

_ “Dude, we’re ghosts, how does a ghost haunt a ghost?” Reggie leaned on his hands, staring at Alex from his perch on a stone wall in front of them.  _

_ “I don't know but I don’t want it to happen!”  _

_ “Look, we’ll hit it with as many chemicals as we can in the driveway.” Julie pinched her nose, and closed her eyes. All deities above give her the strength to survive these boys; if not strength, the power to strangle a ghost.  _

_ “It doesn’t look that bad,” Flynn offered. “I know Alex is probably freaking out, but how often do you find a pretty decent king sized mattress on the side of the road?” _

_ Reggie snapped his fingers and winked at Flynn. “See, she gets it.” _

_ “No one is going to focus on the super kinky sex part?” Luke said, staring at Alex, who blushed red.  _

–and with a lot of work, some chemicals, and a few extra fitted sheets, they had manhandled it up into the loft.

The boys had quickly made it their home, with little areas dedicated to their stuff, a couple of blankets and some extra fairy lights Julie had found making the loft homey. 

Julie puts the shirt and flannel on Luke’s little pile of things, and wonders if she should leave a note. His songbook sits by his pillow innocently.  _ Nope, do not open the songbook for a scrap of paper,  _ she thinks. Julie slips down the loft ladder, and starts looking for some scrap paper to scribble an apology on. She finds an old notebook, and quickly writes out an apology for taking his clothes. 

She’s tucking the note in the flannel when a familiar  _ whoosh _ , and she turns. Luke is sitting on the mattress, head tilted at her. 

“Whatcha doin Jules?” 

Her face flushes. 

“Uh, returning your shirt.” She crumples the note and shoves it in her jeans pocket. “Listen, I had no idea it was yours, I wouldn’t have worn it if I’d known.” Luke rolls to his knees, and grabs the shirt. He drops back on the mattress cross legged, shirt held in his hands. 

“Nah, you had no idea of knowing, we didn’t really organize.” He fingers the material. “I wore this for our first gig ever, you know.” She does, but she doesn’t say anything. He laughs sadly. “Thought I’d sell it for money when we got big.” 

“Luke, if I had known I wouldn’t have worn it.” Lie. 

He shakes his head, and puts it off to the side. “Don’t worry about it Jules, it’s not like it’s gaining value up here or anything.” His cheeks turn pink, something she hasn’t seen very often. “You looked better in it than I did.” 

She snorts. “Yeah, because it still has sleeves.”

“Hey, I wear sleeves sometimes!” Julie raises her eyebrows and looks pointedly at his bare arms and his sleeveless zip up. He flushes again. “Okay, point taken.” 

They stare at each other awkwardly for a moment. 

“I’ll just–go. Now.” Julie points her thumb towards the house, and rocks back on her heels. 

“Wait!” Luke lunges forward and snatches the flannel from it’s spot on the side. He jumps to his feet, and in his haste, he bangs his head on the slanted ceiling. Julie winces with him. She’s done that before. It hurts. He holds out the flannel. 

“I don’t really wear this, and you seemed to like wearing it today so,” he shoves it in her hands. “Keep it.”

“Are you sure?” 

He nods, rubbing the spot where his head hit the ceiling. 

“Thanks Luke,"

“Anytime Jules.” She slides down the ladder, and heads out the door and into the house.

If she had glanced back, she’d have seen Luke pick up the shirt, and smell her perfume on it with a small smile. But she didn’t know that, and she was sure that he would never know she slept in the flannel, surrounded by warmth and the weirdly soothing scent of Irish Spring Soap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update! I couldn't wait to post it. 
> 
> Firstly, I wrote the pancakes and hot sauce scene before the insta story of charlie putting hot sauce on cinnamon buns happened, and it felt stupid ironic when i saw it and remembered i wrote that part, and now i want to try it so badly too. Secondly, I remember reading a fic that head cannoned luke smelled like irish spring soap because that was all he could afford living out of the garage, and i was going to change it to ivory soap, but realized ISS might be more reasonable for a teen boy in 95. 
> 
> (plus ivory soap brings back horse memories that i really don't want to associate with luke so we won't go there. if you are a horse person you might get my drift)
> 
> So what did you think? Did you enjoy it? Am I torturing Julie enough or way off base? Let me know in the comments, or bother me on Tumblr :)


	3. Country Roads, Take Me Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I am not a big country fan, ya know? And I really hate any songs about trucks,” Julie spins the laptop to him. “But I love me some ladies' country.” 
> 
> Reggie glances at the laptop, catching the song title. “ Before He Cheats ?” It sounds vaguely familiar, something he must have stumbled on in his playlist.

Reggie loves country music, it’s his guilty pleasure music. Sure, he loves rock, but Country music is just soothing. Maybe its from hanging on his grandparent's farm as a kid, and that's all that was on the radio, but he can't give it up. 

Reggie clicks through the iPod, wincing at the intense twang of a guitar. _Skip this one, for sure_. Country music has definitely changed since 1995. 

Some of the names that pop up on the songs he’s familiar with, but after 2005, they all change. 

Julie had found them all devices to listen to music on. Luke had gotten an older generation phone that all three boys agreed do not constitute as an older phone. Alex got a square white plastic stick Julie called an iPod Shuffle, and Reggie had gotten another old phone, but different from Luke’s and Julie’s in size and brand. The applications don’t look the same and the home screens are different, but they operate the same. 

Julie spent an entire weekend preloading songs on the devices. Reggie knows, he hung out in her room while she did it. He didn’t comment when she spent more time loading music on Luke’s device than the other two. 

New country isn’t horrible, and the 2000s wasn’t too bad. But he wasn’t a huge fan of the stuff from 2010 on. 

Reggie flips the phone in his hands a few times as the music plays through the earbud things. Julie said they were headphones, but they didn’t really look like 1995 headphones and were odd. Julie did promise him that over-the-ear headphones still existed, but a lot of them used something called Bluetooth and that was a conversation for another day. Who wanted blue teeth anyway? Crooked teeth was something 1992 Reggie had, but blue teeth? Where did those come from? 

The garage doors swing open with a grating noise on the concrete that pierces through the country music, and Reggie pulls the earbuds out. Julie grins at him as she walks into the studio and slings her bag on the ground. 

“What’s up?”

Reggie shakes the phone at her, wrapping the earbuds around the metal rectangle. “Just makin’ my way through the playlist. How was school?”

Julie sighs loudly and collapses on top of him. He grunts as she lands. An elbow is dangerously close to his crotch, and Reggie carefully scoots over. Julie gets the memo and rearranges herself. 

“Awful. Mx. Costa decided to assign us like 50 math questions and Mr. Chew gave us this long-ass history paper.” Julie throws her arms out to the sides. “You’re lucky you’re dead and don’t have to go to school.”

Reggie gives her a look. “That’s why we’re lucky? No school?”

Julie shrugs. “Well the luckiest part of being dead is getting to play with a super talented musician with a name that starts with J,” she winks. 

“Fine, you got me there.”

She grins and then nods at the phone. “What do you think of the newer stuff?”

Reggie spins it in his hand. “2000s are okay. I liked some of the Taylor Swift songs, but then she disappeared after 2012ish.”

Julie shakes her head. “No, she just did a genre swap, she writes a lot of pop now. I didn’t think I should include anything after _Red._ ” 

“She has good songs, I’ll have to find them. Though I’m not loving some of the stuff after 2012.”

"Florida Georgia Line drove me nuts.” Julie moans and rolls her eyes. “Ugh, do you know how overplayed _Cruise_ was? It was just about a guy trying to get a girl in his suped-up truck and ugh,” she shudders. “Flynn wrote a paper on how country music changed post 9/11 last semester, it was insane.” She glances at him “Did you have any favorites from the playlist?”

Reggie nods. “George Strait came out with a few new songs, but _All My Ex’s Live in Texas_ is still my favorite one.”

Julie’s eyebrows climb. “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of that one.” 

Reggie untangles himself from Julie and grabs an acoustic. He plops back on the couch and strums the chord for the chorus. 

_“All my ex's live in Texas, And Texas is the place I'd dearly love to be, But all my ex's live in Texas, And that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee”_ Reggie sings. Julie grins at him, and he grabs the guitar neck, silencing the strings. “Actually, _Check Yes or No_ , is my favorite, I just like playing this one more.”

“You romantic sap” She teases, and he grins. 

“Guilty as charged.”

“You should play more country,” Julie hums. 

Reggie puts the acoustic down. “No can do Boss, Luke hates it.”

“Rude, I like your country singing,” she pouts. Reggie shrugs. 

“Good luck convincing him.” He pauses and gives her a questioning look. “I wouldn’t have guessed you were into country music.” He would have pinned Julie for indie, rock, and the occasional pop song, not country songs. 

“Ok, listen,” Julie sits up and grabs the laptop from the coffee table. He watches as she rapid-fire types on the keyboard. 

Reggie never understood how she was able to type that fast, but there were _a lot_ of things in 2020 he didn’t understand.

“I am not a _big_ country fan, ya know? And I really hate any songs about trucks,” Julie spins the laptop to him. “But I love me some ladies' country.” 

Reggie glances at the laptop, catching the song title. “ _Before He Cheats_?” It sounds vaguely familiar, something he must have stumbled on in his playlist. 

The opening guitar twangs out of the speakers. Julie jumps to her feet and grabs the closet item to be her microphone, a hairbrush by complete chance. 

“ _Right now, he's probably slow dancin' with a bleached-blond tramp and she's probably gettin' frisky_ ” Julie sings into the brush.

_Right now, he's probably buyin' her some fruity little drink 'cause she can't shoot whiskey_

_Right now, he's probably up behind her with a pool-stick showin' her how to shoot a combo_

_And he don't know”_

She leans in close to Reggie, and winks, before spinning and jumping on the coffee table to launch into the chorus.

_“I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive_

_Carved my name into his leather seats_

_I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights_

_I slashed a hole in all four tires_

_Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats”_

Reggie notices the video Julie pulled up is a lyric video, and he joins her on the next verse. 

_Right now, she's probably up singing some white-trash version of Shania karaoke_

_Right now, she's probably sayin' "I'm drunk"_

_And he's a-thinkin' that he's gonna get lucky_

Reggie throws himself into the lyrics. Julie grins and holds out her hand. Reggie takes it, and lets Julie haul him up on the coffee table. Reggie is reminded of how good of a singer Julie is when she growls out the notes for “ _Right now_ ”. He leans into her back, and she throws her head back as she draws out the notes along with the singer.

_Right now, he's probably dabbin' on three dollars worth of that bathroom Polo_

_Oh, and he don't know_

Reggie hears the soft _whoosh_ of a ghost poofing in over the music, but Julie is so lost in the song she doesn’t notice. He glances over to see Alex grinning, and Luke standing in the doorway. His eyes have gone wide like they always do when he watches Julie sing, The Julie Face. Reggie makes eye contact with Alex, and winks before diving into the chorus again, singing his heart out. 

Julie drops her arm on his shoulder, singing the bridge to him. 

_I might have saved a little trouble for the next girl,_

_A-'cause the next time that he cheats_

_Oh, you know it won't be on me_

_No, not on me_

She throws her arms wide, and he follows her into the chorus, no longer singing but belting the lyrics. They burn a home in his chest, and he knows he won’t forget this moment, or these lyrics for a long time. 

_Oh, maybe next time he'll think before he cheats_

_Oh, before he cheats_

_Oooh_

Julie croons the last line into the brush, eyes closed. 

“Wow,” Alex claps. Reggie turns and bows. 

Julie drops her brush with a shriek.“How long have you two been there?”

They don’t answer, which Reggie thinks is probably for the best.

“Julie likes country!” Reggie grins proudly. 

Luke shakes himself from his “Julie Daze”, wanders across the room, and dramatically collapses on the couch. 

“Jules, first the pop music, now the country. You’re killing me here Molina.” He grabs his songbook and fans himself like a 17th century scandalized woman. Alex snorts as he drops into one of the armchairs.

Julie climbs down from the coffee table and sits on the edge. “There’s nothing wrong with country music Patterson.”

Luke sits up, a fire blazing in his eyes. “Yes, there is, music should not be that twangy and all _achey breaky heart_.” 

“You do realize country and rock are two of the closest genres and have common roots. Plus some people argue rock wouldn’t exist without country.” Julie raises her eyebrows.

“I knew there was a reason I loved you Molina,” Reggie fist bumps her. 

“Okay but– mfph!” Alex slaps a hand over Luke’s mouth, cutting off whatever argument the singer was about to start. 

“Before he really gets into it, are we practicing or not?” Alex asks dryly. Only to shriek and rip his hand from Luke’s mouth. “EW! What are you, 5?”

Luke smirks. “It worked, didn’t it?”

“Practicing now!” Julie gets up and heads for her keyboard. Luke jumps up to follow her. 

“You know, maybe we should play a country song next gig,” Reggie says slowly, watching Luke follow their lead singer, already starting up another argument about country music. Alex’s eyes light up, and he grins widely at Reggie. 

“You have the best ideas.”

___________________

Reggie pulls Julie aside during a break. “You need to convince Luke to let us play a country song at our next gig.” 

“No way.” Julie crosses her arms. “He’ll get into the rock is better than country tirade and I won’t do it again.”

“Come on Julie, he was in love with you singing that Carrie Underwood lady” he begs. 

“It’s for the bet.” Alex poofs next to them. “So you have to do it.”

“Are you three done with your secret meeting or am I missing something?” Luke calls. All three flinch. 

“Uh, we were just chatting about an idea Julie had,” Reggie shoves her forward, and she shoots him a glare before settling at her keyboard. 

“We were thinking, maybe, change up our next setlist,” she says slowly, watching Luke’s face. 

“Sure, what were you thinking?” Luke leans towards her, excitement on his face. 

“Maybe add a country song into the playlist?”

Luke deflates and slumps back into the couch. “Jules, we’re a rock band, we can’t just go playing country. It’s sacrilege and crossing genres.”

Julie turns back to Reggie and shrugs helplessly. Reggie shoots her the biggest pout he can conjure, sticking his bottom lip out. He can see the moment Julie’s resolve crumbles and she sighs. Reggie watches in glee as she gets up and sits on the arm of the couch. Luke straightens and tenses up as Julie leans over him. 

“Come on Luke, it's good practice, plus you wouldn’t even have to sing the song, just play.” She bats her eyelashes, and Luke hesitates. “Besides, there’s a lot of country-rock songs. I would have thought you’d like us experimenting, we could even put a Sunset Curve spin on one.”

“I don’t know Jules,”

“Please? For me?”

Reggie knows Luke well enough to see the thoughts racing behind the hazel eyes, and Luke closes his eyes for a moment, before deflating visibly. 

“Okay,” Julie’s grin is massive. “But only one song! And I get veto power!” 

“Oh my god Luke knows what vetoing is,” Alex mutters. Luke hears and throws a crumpled piece of paper at Alex.

“Thanks Luke,” Julie presses a quick kiss to his cheek, before jumping to her feet and giving Reggie a giant grin. Julie settles back at her keyboard, and starts making notes in her notebook. 

She misses how Luke freezes, and carefully raises a hand to where she left a faint impression of lipgloss on his cheek. Neither Reggie or Alex do, and they give Luke a knowing smirk. Luke notices them and glares, his cheeks flushing to match the lipgloss. 

“Hey, so if we’re doing a country song, can we do _Country Roads_?” 

“Reggie, I swear to god I will murder you.” Luke groans. 

“Awww come on, I do _Country Roads_ so well!” Reggie pouts. He grabs the acoustic again and strums. “ _Country roads, taaaake me home_!” He wails, grinning as Alex and Luke wince.

“We cannot do _Country Roads_ , Flynn will die if we do that,” Julie says, but there's a playful grin on her face. 

“Yeah, _Country Roads_ is a meme now Reggie, get with the program,” Alex smirks as he settles back behind his drum set. 

“Oh come on!”

__________________

A week later, and Reggie still hadn’t settled on a country song for them to sing at their next gig. 

“Why did we recruit Flynn for this?” Julie asks Reggie. “She can’t even see you.”

“Because.” Reggie shrugs, as best as he can hanging upsidedown from Julie’s bed.

“Because I can’t let these two fools mess this up for you.” Flynn drones. 

“Hey, I’m not a fool, Julie tell her that, my notebook is too far away.”

“Reggie says he’s not a fool.”

Flynn laughs. “If he has to say it, he is.”

Reggie reaches over and flicks her on the forehead. Flynn growls and stares around the room. “You’re lucky you’re invisible ghost boy.”

“Back on topic,” Julie cuts in “why does it matter so much what song we play?” 

_Because we need to add subliminal messaging to get Luke to realize he likes you_. “Because Luke will veto it if its not good enough,” is what comes out of his mouth instead. 

“I’d suggest some Miranda Lambert, or more Carrie Underwood, but they have a lot of...” Flynn hesitates. “Aggressive cheating songs.”

“Well, it’s good no one has ever cheated on me, yet.” Julie grimaces. 

“It has to have drums, can’t leave Alex out of it.” Reggie holds out a hand, dropping a finger for each point. “Extra points for bass or banjo, but I’m a multi talented man,” He winks at Julie, who rolls her eyes. “And extra extra points if it’s a love song.”

Julie relays his words to Flynn, raising an eyebrow at love song. Flynn nods. “Good criteria. Kelsey Ballerini?” 

Julie wrinkles her nose. “Eh, there are some okay ones with her, but not totally my style.”

“ _Heads Carolina, Tails California?_ ” Reggie suggests. 

Julie tilts her head.“What?”

“Oh come on, Jo Dee Messina?” Reggie pouts. “It’s a banger, it literally came out a year after we died.” 

His face is starting to feel tight like all the blood is pooling in his face. But he’s dead, that shouldn’t be happening, his blood hasn’t moved in 25 years. Reggie sits up, and the pressure alleviates. 

Flynn snaps her fingers and makes grabby hands at Julie’s laptop. Julie surrenders it, and Flynn pulls up Youtube. 

“It doesn’t hit every point fully, but Reggie, how do you feel about this one?” Flynn grins at him, and hits play on a song. 

___________________

Reggie watches Julie spin her bracelets as they sat waiting for their turn. He fiddles with his matching red one, fingers twisting around the ends of the embroidery floss. They’d practiced the song Flynn picked out flawlessly an hour earlier, and they’d nailed _Finally Free_ in rehearsals if Reggie could say himself. 

The tech makes eye contact with Julie, and her shoulders rise to her ears. 

“Jules, you’ll rock it.” Flynn pats Julie on the shoulder. 

Julie takes a deep breath, straightens her shoulders, and steps onto the stage. 

“Hey all, we’re Julie and the Phantoms, and this is Finally Free.” 

Julie starts on the piano, and at the chorus, Alex counts them in, and they dive into the song. They perform the song just as perfectly as they did the first time. The crowd is into it, bouncing along with the beat and the energy is high in the cafe. Reggie doesn’t share a mic with Luke this time but grins when Julie leans into Luke to sing, and Reggie doesn’t miss when Luke’s eyes soften at her. 

They finish to thundering applause, or as thundering as a small cafe can get. Luke and Alex keep a soft beat going to keep them visible, while Reggie swaps his bass for a banjo, and slides his mic up to the front with Julie. 

“Thanks everyone, we’re going to switch it up and do a cover, this is _Compass_.” 

The boys jump into the music, and Reggie leans into the mic for the first line, Julie joining.

_“Yeah, it's been a bumpy road_

_Rollercoasters high and low_

_We'll fill the tank and drive the car_

_Pedal fast, pedal hard_

_You won't have to go that far”_

Reggie winks at Julie, and she grins back. 

_You wanna give up 'cause it's dark,”_ He sings, letting go of the banjo to clap in time with the beat _._

 _“We're really not that far apart”_ She sings back, and then Luke and Alex are joining to harmonize with the chorus. 

The song is infectious and the crowd has caught the energy, clapping to the beat. Reggie even jumps to Julie at one point, sharing a mic in the chorus. 

Sharing a mic with Julie isn’t the same as Luke; her energy bubbles compared to Luke’s fire. The song doesn’t help either, Reggie would much rather ditch his banjo and dance with Julie than play, but then he disappears, and it becomes a moot point. 

_“When it's all said and done, you can walk instead of run”_ Julie croons the last line of the song to him, wild grin from the energy rush. 

_“'Cause no matter what, you'll never be alone”_ He sings with her on the last line, leaning in close as the notes fade into the air. The crowd bursts into cheers, and they turn and bow dramatically. The boys poof away before Julie straightens like they always rehearse. Reggie reappears off stage with the boys beside him. 

“Ok, that was awesome!” Alex reaches up a hand for a high five.

“Well, we got to have some fun.” Reggie claps his hand and looks at Luke. 

“Well, it wasn’t a horrible country song,” Luke shrugs. 

Reggie grins. “That’s all we get, not horrible?.”

Luke shoves him, but the grin is there and Reggie knows the Luke Language enough. 

Julie bounces towards them, her smile infectious. She jumps on Reggie, squealing. 

“Reggie that was amazing! We have to do that again! Luke,” she spins to him, grabbing his face between her hands. Reggie watches his face melt into pure soft. “We need to write Reggie more solos!” Julie launches herself at him, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Luke’s whole face goes red.

“Um, yeah sure Jules, anything for you.”

Julie is too caught up in her excitement to notice the effect she had on her guitarist, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Reggie or Alex. 

“I gotta go find Flynn,” She gasps, and bolts off into the crowd. 

“Soooo, when will I get solos?” Alex drops an arm over Luke’s shoulder. Luke glares at Alex, and shoves him, Alex just laughs, ducking away. 

“I’m going to go check up on Julie,” Luke mutters, and poofs away. 

“Dude, I think our plan is working, you missed all the little looks Luke was giving Julie that entire song.” 

“I really hope Flynn got it all on footage,” Reggie rocks on his toes, looking for Flynn in the crowd. He finds her across the room with Julie, and Luke pouting beside them.

“Well, and you killed it too, own your awesomeness Reg.” Alex grins at him. 

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of me really hopes charlie is on a03 and not Wattpad, but then I hope he's not LOL
> 
> So sorry for the lateness of this chapter, my week last week was hectic and I've been working on a chapter 5 that I decided last minute to add instead of making it a seperate fic.
> 
> Alright, a chapter completely from Reggies POV! I hope you enjoyed it. I really wanted a Reggie chapter, kinda like how the previous chapter was Alex's idea, this one is Reggie's idea, and then the image of him and Julie singing before he cheats appeared and this was born. Please let me know what you think!
> 
> Thank you again to my mother, who made me delete a giant chunk of the first part that wasn't needed, and made me embrace the delete button.


End file.
